Solid-state laser systems are known in the art. Such systems comprise a laser that uses a gain medium in the solid-state, rather than a liquid such as in dye lasers, or a gas as in gas lasers. The gain media of such lasers often involve semiconductor-based active materials comprising a high reflectivity multilayer stack monolithically integrated with a gain medium or a doped laser crystal capped with a sputtered oxide dielectric mirror. This “active mirror” as we will refer to it, is then mounted on or connected to a rigid substrate for structural support and cooling. U.S. Pat. No. 6,963,592 B2 discloses connecting a lasing medium to a cooling member or support by means of an adhesive layer, which is produced from an adhesive material transitioning from a liquid state into a cross-linked state with a minimum change in volume. However, the use of an adhesive layer, though straightforward in its implementation, may ultimately limit the thermal conductivity of the system. In addition, there may be problems with mechanical stability when adhesively joining the lasing medium to the cooling member. Moreover, the use of adhesive layers may limit the optical properties of the system. If metal-bonded structures are employed, the mounted structure will be rendered opaque on the cooling member side, thereby limiting possible directions for light extraction, or conversely for the input of an optical pump beam as adhesive, i.e. glue-based structures, may further exhibit a significant amount of optical absorption.